Backup, restore and a new phone

ComicDrive keeps your library, progress and bookmarks on the phone. A backup file carries them to another phone, or back after a reset.

In the app, the ⓘ next to Export backup now, Restore from backup and Automatic backups explains each option, and its Learn more opens this page. New in 3.06

What the backup file holds

• every comic in your library, with its reading progress, its own reader settings, and whether it is a favorite or hidden
• bookmarks
• categories, and which comics belong to them
• your changes to series
• your OPDS catalogs with their name and address
• your network shares, without their passwords
• the folders you added

What it leaves out

• The comic files themselves. The backup lists your comics; it does not copy them. Keep the files where they are, or make sure the new phone can reach them.
• Sign-in details: the username, password and custom headers of each OPDS catalog, and the password of each network share. The backup file is unencrypted, so these stay out of it by design. You enter them once after restoring.
• Access to your folders. Android ties folder access to the phone it was granted on. After a restore, each folder needs to be reconnected once.
• The app-wide settings, such as the default reader mode. Settings you made for a single comic do travel with it.
• Thumbnails and the cache. ComicDrive rebuilds them.

Make a backup

All backup controls sit in the Backup & restore section of Settings; tap the section to open it if it is collapsed.

Tap Settings › Backup & restore › Export backup now and choose where to save the file. Any folder works, including a cloud folder.

For backups without thinking about them, turn on Settings › Backup & restore › Automatic backups. ComicDrive asks you to pick a folder, for example one your cloud app syncs, and writes a backup there on the schedule set under Backup frequency. It runs in the background when the battery isn’t low and keeps the newest five files.

Restore

Tap Settings › Backup & restore › Restore from backup and pick the backup file. The backup is merged into the library you have: nothing already on the phone is wiped.

Moving to a new phone

1. On the old phone, tap Settings › Backup & restore › Export backup now and save the file somewhere the new phone can reach, such as your cloud storage.

2. Install ComicDrive on the new phone and open it.

3. Tap Settings › Backup & restore › Restore from backup and pick the file.

4. On the Start screen, tap Reconnect folder for each folder and pick it again. Your reading progress stays.

5. Sign in again where needed: for each network share, the Start screen asks you to re-enter its password (Fix credentials); for each protected OPDS catalog, edit it and enter its username and password, plus any custom headers.

Android can also back up app data to your Google account on its own. That is a separate mechanism; ComicDrive’s backup file works independently of it.